Minister and Rahul Gandhi clash over CBSE OSM evaluation

A public dispute erupted on Thursday between Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged irregularities in the evaluation of CBSE Class 12 examinations. The exchange centered on the board's new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system and the company awarded the contract to operate it.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, demanded an independent judicial probe and a Special Investigation Team into what he termed an "entire scam" in the evaluation process. He alleged that the contract for the digital evaluation was awarded to a firm, identified as COEMPT, which he said was previously known as Globarena and had a controversial background. In a social media post, Gandhi posed a series of questions about the contract's awarding, asking on whose orders it was done, why background checks were allegedly not conducted, and what connection existed between the company's management and the government.

In response, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan defended the process, stating that the Central Board of Secondary Education's actions were in line with the Government of India's procurement policy. He assured that if any...